A Gifted Man: Patrick Wilson's Latest TV Project

My Tuesday morning last week wasn’t like any other day. I don’t think a morning started with a phone interview with one of the nominee for People’s magazine “Sexiest Men Alive 2011” is a normal one. I’ve got the chance to do a phone interview with actor Patrick Wilson whose movie credits include The A-Team, Watchmen, Insidious, The Alamo and The Phantom of the Opera. He’s now coming with a new series called A Gifted Man premiering at AXN Beyond on 17th of January 2012, 9.55PM.

At the time of the phone interview, Patrick was on New Jersey finishing the shooting of the thirteenth episode of A Gifted Man. The show is described as a mix between ‘Ghost’ and ‘House’ with the leading character Michael Holt portrayed as a very successful neurosurgeon who is brilliant at his work and charismatic. He’s also portrayed as a coldhearted and self-absorbed man who lives a materialistic life of luxury. But the life, as he knows it, would take a major turn when his ex-wife Anna (Jennifer Ehle) visited him, in a manner similar to the movie ‘Ghost’ after she dies in a car accident.

Not only does he have several movie credits up his sleeve, but he’s also part of several Broadway plays such as The Full Monty, Oklahoma!, All My Sons to name a few. He also explained that contrary to the character of Michael, he’s much of a person that “…tend to wear my emotion on my sleeves,” so rest assured that the character that he’s depicting in the series is surely not similar to his. But let’s get to know him a little bit better and the show too by reading my interview with him.

How do you do your research to be Michael who is a doctor and portrayed as a coldhearted man undergone a spiritual journey through his connection with his late ex-wife Anna?

We have doctors on set and the show is based on the story of a neurosurgeon in Los Angeles, he did not say anything about ghosts, but the premise is that a neurosurgeon who controls everything in his life suddenly has everything out of control, this part was taken from a story of a doctor, so I met with him. And we have real nurses on set and that helps a lot for the preparation process. So you learn as you go on how to tie knots, being a surgeon. I had to learn how a surgery would work so I would look as realistic as I can. As for the ghost element, it was all new for him, so there’s no research you can do because it’s a new experience for Michael, so we learned as I learnead.

There are so many medical series on TV at the moment, in your opinion what sets A Gifted Man apart from the others?

I think because it is not just another medical series. There are so many medical series [nowadays] because people like medical series apparently. So you get both sides of the medicine whether it’s the ER work or the brain surgery work on the other side. What sets it apart is that it is not just medical stories but he has personal issues to fight through.

You played a lot of Broadway plays as well as movies. When do you decide when it’s the time to do a movie or play in Broadway?

I actually mix it up as much as I can. I live on the East Coast and have been living in New York for 16 years so I do a play every few years, and lately, when I do movies I travel all over. And I have children, so the older they get they have to go to school, so when I do plays it means I stay at home.

Do you cook and help your children with their homework when you’re at home?

I do cook, my schedule on TV show is really exhaustive so I miss a lot of dinners so I make it a point that I cook on the weekends.

Who is your favorite designer?

Wow I have a lot of favorite designers, but the last really great black tie suit that I wore was Dolce & Gabbana. For casual clothes I like Scotch & Soda and Rag & Bone.

Patrick Wilson’s newest project in 2012 will be the movie Prometheus which sounds like a great movie worth to wait for. But in the mean time, you can start to catch Patrick in his newest series called A Gifted Man from tomorrow at AXN Beyond every Tuesday at 9.55PM. Here’s a little sneak peek on what you can expect from the series. Enjoy!